


Light 'em up, This Radioactive Beat

by WriterSky20



Category: Nurarihyon no Mago | Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, ゲゲゲの鬼太郎 | GeGeGe no Kitarou (Anime)
Genre: By a Kitsune, Did this fairly quickly, Gen, Isekai Into Another World, Just Idea I wanted to play with, Mana and Rikuo are Friends, Not Beta Read, Nura Rihan Lives, One Shot, Rikuo is Missing, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:41:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28119351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterSky20/pseuds/WriterSky20
Summary: Due to a deal by with a goddess by another older version of him, a baby Rikuo gets taken from his home by a Kitsune messenger and taken to another world, in return for Rihan not getting killed. In exchange for a life spared, one of the Kyoto yokai ends up getting killed. For payment, Rikuo offered himself, which, given the different timelines, ended up being his other baby self, taking to a different world. Baby Rikuo ends up in the hands of a couple that had been praying for a baby to this goddess in that other world.This other world being Gegege No Kitarou. He ends up as childhood friends with Inuyama Mana.
Relationships: Mana Inuyama & Nura Rikuo
Kudos: 4





	Light 'em up, This Radioactive Beat

One night, when all of the Nura Clan Parade was off handling some disruptive and traitorous yokai who had overstepped their boundaries, and Mama Wakana was fast asleep, with Nurarihyon watching the night sky on the other side of the mansion, baby Rikuo wakes to a bell-like sound. Opens his sleepy eyes to see two fox tails dancing before him. The 3-month old blinks and raises a hand, cooing sleepily in curiosity. A face of a young boy pops up from the top of the grip, gazing down at him. Long, spiky red hair falls down from his face, to which the baby gladly launches a hand onto. The boy silently freaks out for a moment, having not expected that and Little Rikuo, chewing idly on the hair, yawns and falls back asleep. The boy carefully and silently untangles his hair from the 3-month-old’s grip. Then one tail ducks under, wraps around, and lifts the baby up. Out of the crib and into the physically-middle-school-aged boy’s arms. The shadows of three other tails dance and twist happily on the walls as he smiles, fox-like. Wakana in the bed turns over and the boy trickster turns to look at her. His eyes narrow. The bell-like sound returns and Wakana’s breaths deeper as she falls into a deeper sleep. He returns to looking at the child. “ _You will do good as payment_ ,” the boy speaks, voice nothing more than a whisper yet heard as a deep vibration, like the rumblings of an earthquake but no earthquake or vibration is actually there.

A sword is suddenly pointed at the boy’s neck. His eyes glance and stare down the sword at the old _yokai_ who points it at him. “Put my grandson down, _Kitsune_!” he hisses. The Kitsune simply responses, “ _For one Life saved, another must be lost._ ” Nurarihyon’s eyes widen in shock then narrow and he presses the sword closer.

“Not my grandson,” he firmly replies. The trickster simply stares at him in pity. Es tails start to disappear. The shadows disappear. Nurarihyon slashes through his neck but it was gone. Not a trace of es existence left.

Only one whisper that drove the Shodaime to his knees in despair echoes through the room one last time, “ _The exchange has already been dealt. Pick up of payment was all that was left._ ”

Wakana wakes up then, human senses finally picking up on something being wrong.

“Nurarihyon-sama? ...” She notices the empty crib, “Rikuo?!”

“The Kyubi No Kitsune of Yokohama came,” The grandfather was able to gravely say. Wakana, having relatives who live near Yokohama and thus growing up on Yokohama’s urban legends and tales, sucks in a choked breath, tears filling her eyes. “I wasn’t able to stop em.” Nurarihyon closes his eyes in frustration and shame as a tear slides down the mother’s cheeks.

A wail of sorrow and cries for her child fills the rest of the night and the weeks to come, before the mother shuts down to a shell of her former self in order to function.

The father, who returns immediately with his Parade upon hearing those sounds, breaks down, hearing the news of his first and only child being taken from him so soon. The grandfather shuts himself inside his room and drinks to the despair of failing to protect his grandson. The father spends many nights during the weeks after screaming and raging at the gods and the world around him, for once again taking something he loved away from him without a word of warning.

After all, the Kyubi no Kitsune is not a _yokai_ in this world but a messenger god like the Okami. There is no stopping their deliveries or actions, only a higher-ranked god or goddess could do such a thing.

Meanwhile, in another universe, a fox spirit with a baby hanging off his mouth enters a majestic room where sits a Goddess. The Goddess takes the baby and thanks the young Kitsune messenger. She sends a single blessing of thanks to the child’s original parents then goes off to answer another couple’s prayers. She gifts them the baby as thanks for bringing her back to life, then checks to make sure the person who was originally supposed to lose his life is going to be okay for another few centuries until he either bares another child or the baby is ready to go back to his original world and timeline.

_12 years later…_

_Klob, klob, klob._

“Oh, Mana,” Kitaro blinks, stopping in the middle of the walk-street upon seeing his human friend. Mana starts and turns to face Kitaro.

He spots an object she has in her arms. Her fidgeting legs and the nervous sweat on her cheek. She seems nervous.

“O-oh, Kitaro! I wasn’t expecting you here!”

Medama-Oyaji pops up from his hair. “It’s amazing that we keep running into each other, Mana-chan.”

Mana nervously laughs in response and agrees.

“Why exactly are you here, Mana?” Kitaro curiously asks her. She glances towards the house next to her which she had been staring at before Kitaro showed up. Bites her lip, unsure. Then sighs in defeat.

She points to the house. “My childhood best friend recently returned home after spending the past few years out at sea, with his mother. Helping her with her job and traveling the world. This is his childhood home. He came home last week. I, uh. I wanted to surprise him and gift him something, maybe hang out too, but –” She turns to face the house and sighs. “I keep chickening out. And something keeps happening that stops me from psyching myself up. I keep leaving.” She moans and hangs her head.  
“I feel like such a failure of a friend! But I haven’t seen or spoken to him outside of video chat and letters for years! So, I don’t know how to act.” Kitaro hums in response, acknowledging her statement.

Medama Oyaji gives her advice, “I know this may sound like something you hear all the time, but it really is sound advice. The best thing you can do is to act like yourself and step forward. One step at a time. Suddenly the objective doesn’t sound or feel as daunting.” Mana nods, “I’m sure he will be happy to see you, Mana.” She manages a smile, adjusting the object in her hands.

Then she realizes what them being here means and frowns, “Hey – what are you guys doing here? Is something strange happening in this neighborhood?”

“Not so much strange, as more of an investigation. We got a letter, someone asking us to investigate because strange things have been happening which she’s already ruled out the logical conclusions of and fixed the logical conclusions that could be fixed,” Kitaro raises up said letter. “However, despite this, strange things continue to happen, once even to a deadly extent which was enough for the young mother to contact us,” Medama picks up.

Mana blinks then her eyes widen. “Ah! That sounds like Lady Soseki!”

“Lady Soseki?”

“Yes. She lives on the hill overlooking the neighborhood. It’s her childhood home and she wanted her daughter to grow up there too. Since she was a kid, she’s always experienced strange and unusual things. She’s seen things and spoken to people that weren’t actually there. Everybody knows her as Lady Soseki because she was most well known for always speaking to and about a dead wealthy mother who she nicknamed the Lady Prince. The kids used to call her Lady Strange. But for someone like her to say that those things they’ve experienced has reached deadly extent, something must have happened to change the atmosphere. They were pretty kind before, according to Lady Soseki,” she explains, then finishes in a worried mutter.

Kitaro frowns and hums, now more worried before, “How come she didn’t explain that in her letter? It just says the strange phenomenon has increased to a deadly extent, or something along those lines.” Mana shrugs.

Then she turns to look at the house before her. Takes in a breath and says with a false bravo, “Well, it was nice seeing you, Kitaro. I wish you luck with Lady Soseki and her problem. Wish me luck on mine!” She waves goodbye, steps forward with a sucked in breath, and rings the bell next to the gate. Kitaro nods to her and waves goodbye as well, heading on his way.

The door opens and out steps, Nemuri Rikuo, a tanned brown-black haired boy, whose eyes light up with glee and happiness upon seeing Mana. “MANA-KUN! Come on in!” Mana smiles as Rikuo opens the gate, she enters and he closes it. They hug in greeting.  
“Hey, it’s good to see you too, Rikuo-kun!”

The two childhood friends walk back inside, happily chatting.

Rikuo was grateful for her gift which turned out to be a charm necklace with a fox-lion-hawk-circling-each-other-in-a-dance pendent as the charm part. She helps him put it on.

Just as if they had never been separated, Rikuo asks her for help on his small project. Which is making and carving a DND table for them and their friends to come together and play again, plus several wooden necklaces, charms, runes, and other wood items for everyday and their roleplaying. She gladly helps him, having missed their woodwork projects and DND sessions.  
“I can’t wait to play again, especially on this new table once it’s finished,” she tells Rikuo as she works on sanding down and cutting one block of wood. “Yeah,” he smiles excitedly, “it’s gonna be so much fun! I have so many ideas for characters and possible worlds we could work on. Have the brothers been working on any new cartographies and homebrew monsters?” She nods then moves her safety googles down and gets to work on shaving the wood down to carve it.

It was just so supposed to be a special day between Rikuo and Mana. No supernatural, no encounters, no magic powers.

How the hell did a standard _yokai_ encounter for Kitaro with Lady Soseki turn into Rikuo and Mana ending up in a completely different world, a mischievous fox forcing Rikuo’s _yokai_ side to wake up beforehand then forced back to normal then that portal showing up, in a span of 6 minutes? Mana didn’t know. But she would very much like to know so she can explain to the people pointing swords, spears, and other weapons at her and an unconscious Rikuo behind her, with several her-age human people watching worriedly from behind them. The man with wavy hair currently glaring at her isn’t helping with the katana pointed directly at her neck.

Sometimes, she really, really, strongly disliked waking up her sixth sense or whatever that let her distinguish _yokai_ easily from humans. Maybe it was from being exposed over and over again to Rikuo and then later on Kitaro and the others but still… Sometimes she envied the ignorant bliss her human friends have. Neither her childhood nor the exposure from being Kitaro’s friends will ever give her that. In the end, though, even with moments like this one, she wouldn’t change it for the world.

“Please, mister. Neither I nor my friend here meant to end up here. It was an accident!” She hesitated for a moment, glancing at the obvious humans being guarded by a human girl with papers in her hands and a human-passing _yokai_ woman then back at the man.

She licked her dry lips, took in a breath, and said, “It was a _yokai_ accident. A woman in our neighborhood had gotten into some trouble involving _yokai_ and a friend of ours had been called in to help. We, that is, my unconscious friend and I, originally weren’t involved but I – honestly, I can’t remember exactly how it happened, but I think the _yokai_ who had been terrorizing Lady Soseki, um the uh the lady who asked for help – I think he did something that got us involved, I don’t really know. One thing lead to another, the friend who had originally been called in and the _yokai_ ’s power clashed. Next thing I know, I’m here with Rik – my unconscious friend and you all surrounding me with weapons pointed at my face.”

The being part _yokai_ was not her secret to tell so she kept quiet. Also, she wasn’t sure how much the humans around her knew or believed. She was pushing it just by mentioning the _ayakashi_.

“YOU SAW A YOKAI?!” One of the human boys shouts and jumps towards her – or at least, tried to. His friends stop him from getting past the human girl and yokai woman trying to defend them. “Kobayashi, calm yourself, you idiot!” One of the human girls shouts back in rage and absolute disbelief.

The other human-disguised yokai around her look towards the wavy, long-haired man. _Must be their leader_ , she thinks absentmindedly and stares back at his look.

He slowly moves his katana away, “I believe you, for now. Do anything funny though and I won’t hesitate. You can bring your friend inside. I have a healer, we’ll see what we can do to wake him up if anything.” He moves back to the house and the other _yokai_ slowly, reluctantly follow. The girls are now quietly scolding the boy who had originally yelled out at her.

As the other beings move back, she carefully picks Rikuo up and carries him bridal-style. Following the man into the house.

She takes off hers and then Rikuo’s shoes while saying, “Sorry for intruding,” before she enters the house. One of the hiding servants, also a disguised _yokai_ , takes them. Most likely putting them at the front of the house.

They enter one of the rooms. She notes the backpacks and supplies plied in one corner. _Must be the room where the kids hang out_. He takes out a futon and unrolls it to the center of the room. She lays Rikuo down, removing his backpack from him and placing it next to the other kids’ along with her own. “At least our stuff came with us,” she mutters quietly to herself. Then returns to a vigilante position next to Rikuo, keeping watch.

A short-haired, grumpy man – _yokai_ , she notes in the back of her mind – comes in, slamming the door open. The leader talks to him, explaining the situation. The man, the healer probably, looks more pissed. She speaks up without taking her eyes off of Rikuo who hasn’t made any noises or any indication of him being alright since they got there, “While I’m sure you’re unhappy about having to help someone who isn’t even apart of your group, I ask that you make this exception, mister. He’s my childhood friend and the only one from my world in this strange new one of which I have no clues about.” Mana turns to look at him and smiles wobbly, “Please. I don’t want to explore or do anything here alone. Besides, you may be surprised by us soon enough, if you’d give us a chance.”

The healer frowns. A moment of silence falls in the room. Even the kids, when they join them, fall silent and slowly form a loose circle around the room. The healer sighs, “Zen, kid. My name is Zen,” then walks over, and flops down crisscross-applesauce style onto the floor on the other side of the futon. He begins the check-up process.

“Mana.”

“Hm?” the leader who had taken vigilance on the outer sliding door, watching the backyard, turns to her.

“My name is Inuyama Mana. My friend here’s,” she gestures to Rikuo, “name is Nemuri Rikuo. Nice to meet you.” The leader seems surprised to hear Rikuo’s name before his face shutters back to a neutral expression.

“…Nura Rihan.”

The kids in the room take up introducing themselves.

“I’m Ienaga Kana.”

“Torii Natsumi. Pleasure.”

“I’m Kiyotsugu, the leader of our squad!”

“Shima Jiro!”

“…Keikain Yura.”

“I’m Maki Saori. Nice to meet you.”

“And I’m Oikawa Tsurara.”

Mana nods in greeting to them all. 

Silence reigns, with only the whispering between the middle schoolers breaking it.

A few moments later, after Zen had declared him to simply be concussed and a little bruised as well as exhausted, then promptly left with the demand that he be brought it if the patient wakes up, Rikuo wakes up. Natsumi leaves to call Zen-san back.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Mana says, relieved that he’s alright. Rikuo blinks up at her, “Mana?”

He sits up with Mana’s help, rubbing his head and groaning. “Ow, what the hell? Why does everywhere hurt?”

Mana laughs nervously, sweatdropping, “Yeah, um. Let’s just say that we got into the idiot brothers’ level of trouble and leave it at that. Let’s also just say that while you were unconscious, we ended up in a different universe.” Rikuo turns and stares at her for a moment in incomprehensive deadpanned disbelief. Then her statement and its implied words finally registered and he groans, putting his head in his hands. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me! How do we keep ending up in these situations?! First when we were little kids, then you by yourself with Kitaro and yokai, now this alternate universe bullshit together! WHY?!”

Mana shrugs, having already done her internal freaking out and screams of pain and disbelief while having multiple weapons pointed at her, and waits for Rikuo’s own freak-out to be finished.

Rikuo takes in a breath and forcefully calms himself, accepting the situation.

“Okay, okay. What’s the situation? And how do we get out of it?” He asks, turning serious.

“Well,” Mana starts, “Right now, we’re being treated as temporary guests. I told them that we hadn’t meant to end up here and that right then, I was more focused on you and getting you to a doctor, told them that we’re universe jumpers and hadn’t meant to universe jump. Now that you’re awake, how the situation ends up, well, that depends on whether they’re malevolent or benevolent. So far, they’ve been pretty nice, but I don’t know how long this hospitality will last. Either way though, we’re in the center or at least near the center of their home, so I’d advise we be courteous and kind.”

Rikuo frowns, thinking, nods, easily translating what she was actually saying: ‘I am not in the right circumstances to be able to gather information without possibly gaining hostile responses and they are being courteous to two strangers, I’d advise we lay low for now and be the guests we are. I just don’t know if they are benevolent _yokai_ who love humans or malevolent _yokai_ who are kidnapping and tricking a bunch of humans. And all they know is that we are strangers from a different world, one injured and the other relatively fine if a little shocked, and that we aren’t here to harm.’

Nura whistles, “Is that usually how you talk to a friend who just woke up or are you putting on an act for me? You sound like an agent giving a superior a report.” Rikuo jumps while Mana flinches. She turns to look over her shoulder, shifting slightly to the side so Rikuo can see him completely. She smiles sheepishly in his direction, having forgotten him and the other club members.

“I’m sorry, I was just catching Rikuo up on our situation and he doesn’t like it when I’m not blunt,” she apologizes, but Nura waves her off.

“It’s fine. You’re in a strange situation with only one person you can truly trust, I can understand your assessment and hesitation.”

“Um,” Rikuo speaks up, confused. Mana quickly introduces him to Nura and then the club members who are still here.

It has not yet reached dinner time for this house, though the sun is getting closer to the horizon.

Rikuo turns his focus to the club members after greeting Nura and thanking him for his hospitality.

“I… don’t mean to be rude, but why is a school club here and not at the school?” He questions.

Kana is the one who answers, “Our school closes at around 4:30 and our club deals in the supernatural, specifically _yokai_ , so often times we work past those hours, trying to prove _yokai_ existence. Sometimes we stay after school and separate around that time, but most of the time we meet up at each other’s house and have our club meetings there.”

Shima picks it up, “It was Oikawa-chan’s turn today but her home is too far for us to be able to travel to.”

Oikawa shrugs, “I live where I work, which is here, the school is close by which is convenient.”

“When we first started out, I would just unexpectedly announce the day of the meeting during lunch whose house we’ll be going to, but after several scoldings from the girls and the parents, I was forced to switch it to warnings during the previous club meeting of who will be hosting us or if we’ll be staying at the school,” Kiyotsugu finishes with a flourish.

Rikuo absently comments, “It’s probably good that you switched it to warnings beforehand. If you had tried something like that at my home, the little _ayakashi_ who hang out in our neighborhood would have terrorized you for days to come. They despise suddenly meeting newcomers they didn’t have forewarning of.” That causes yelling to start up.

“YOU ALL HAVE YOKAI IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!?”

Mana blinks in confusion and surprise, “Well, yeah. Most people don’t believe and usually, it’s only the little kids whom they reveal themselves to. I’m afraid to admit, I’d actually forgotten about them until meeting Kitaro enabled me to see them again. But… They’re all over the place in our neighborhood.”

Rikuo agrees with her, “Yeah, most of the neighborhood kids have played with them for decades. You aren’t truly a neighborhood kid until you’ve accidently played with an _ayakashi_ kid in the haunted park or near Lady Soseki’s garden.”

“‘But be weary of the Fae, children,’” the two say together humorously and ominously. A neighborhood inside joke, “‘They look and act like the children who have medical conditions, but don’t be fooled. Follow their trail and you will be ensnared, ne’er to return.’” The others look confused but they wave off any questions with a simply ‘inside joke’ statement.

Rikuo continues, “It mostly doesn’t really matter, most simply forget or stop believing. Brushing it off as their imagination, especially since most don’t experience anything inside their own homes within the neighborhood.”

Mana remembers what Kitaro had told her when they had ended up in that situation which led them here, “Kitaro and Medama Oyaji had said something about the entire land where our neighborhood lays is of an entirely different energy from the rest of the city, so much so, it’s just attracting _yokai_ left and right, up and down. But they can’t figure out where the actual source of the energy is so they just wander. And some lash out in anger and frustration over not finding it but mostly, just wander.”

“A lot of energy… Yeah, that sounds about right.”

Kiyotsugu is practically frothing and vibrating in his seat, “I WANT TO GO THERE!” He shrieks. The other club members jump him to stop him from grabbing any of the guests and keep him in his seat.

“KIYOTSUGU, CONTROL YOURSELF!” Maki shouts at him.

Keikain, Kana, and the other members who have experienced pretty horrible _yokai_ events, even Oikawa, “TRUST ME, BUDDY! NO, YOU DON’T!”

Mana speaks up, surprising them enough to silence, “I’m going to have to say this, Kiyotsugu-san. Unless you have a friend perfectly capable of getting you out of there if the situation gets bad and the _yokai_ proves themselves unwilling to make friends or talk, it really is best if you don’t get involved at all. For me, I have no control over the situation; I mind my business most of the time but every since I started believing in them again, I’ve gotten pulled into multiple situations dealing with _yokai_. And that’s just within my own district, I’ve gotten into situations outside of my district. I’m here in this situation right now because of a _yokai_.”

She stares hard at Kiyotsugu and the other kids, “I got out of those other situations because I have _yokai_ friends who are fully capable of, if nothing else, at least getting me and anybody else out of the situation if it gets to be too bad for me to stay and support them. I know I am safe the moment I see them entering into the situation, because I am safe. Unless you know of people who have skillset and capability of getting you out and stopping the _yokai_ in question from doing further harm, and have befriended those people, I’d recommend you stay out of it as best as possible.”

Rikuo adds in before they can say anything, “Also, don’t be one of those assholes who befriend a _yokai_ just for the bragging and protection rights. Firstly, that’s cruel and just plain mean, dragging those beings around thinking they made a human friend whose actually kind. Secondly, they can and will stop protecting you at any point, especially when – not if, _when_ – they find out they are being used. Just, don’t be that asshole. Plus, nobody would believe if you said you had befriended a _yokai_.”

“Doesn’t matter how many times a malevolent _ayakashi_ takes over Japan, people will forget and call you crazy for thinking _yokai_ existed,” Mana and Rikuo glance at each other humorously, already thinking of several people who had witnessed several _yokai_ taking over and yet still denied their existence in the aftermath. It is both hilarious and really sad.

Mana informs them, “That’s actually happened several times in our world, in Tokyo alone. One supernatural being or a group takes over either Japan or Tokyo, Kitaro stops, and then within a few days in the aftermath, even as they are cleaning up the mess leftover, the nonbelievers have forgotten, all traces – recorded and otherwise – have vanished, and nobody knows what the fuck the believers are talking about every time they mention those instances.” 

Rikuo snickers, “Since returning home from traveling, and getting caught up in the events that have happened back home by Mana, I’ve seen several known believers of the supernatural in my neighborhood alone throw their computers out or viciously tear out the weeds in their lawn and gardens in frustration and absolute bafflement over the nonbelievers forgetting all of these supernatural events that have taken place, and there being no remaining documentations of them. I actually witnessed one specific believer slowly turn into a conspiracy theorist, much to the worry of their family and friends, because of this.”

The entire room seem absolutely baffled by what they have said.

“What… the fuck…?” Keikain sums up their feelings towards this revelation.

“Yeah,” Mana laughs, “That was my initial reaction when I realized this too!”

“It has been a really weird 2 years, for both of us,” Rikuo concludes with a shrug. “But honestly, you get used to the weirdness of it all. Kind of have to, in many cases.”

Suddenly, to Mana, the entire house seems and feels more friendly, like she and Rikuo’s words had gained its approval.

Having been sensing _ayakashi_ the entire time, everywhere in the house, Rikuo assumes that is exactly what happened. Even Rihan-san seems more relaxed.

Only the kids seem to be more unsure about it, but Kiyotsugu certainly seemed excited about that idea. Until Maki hits him over the head, that is. Keikain-san also seems more reluctant to accept such an idea, which Mana doesn’t blame her for. 

“ _‘Yokai and humans can’t be together.’_ ” Keikain, looking startled, turns to Mana, along with everybody else in the room. Natsumi, along with Zen, returns to the room right when Mana says that.

Mana is staring right at Keikain when she says this.

“E-eh?” Yura asks, confused at the abrupt change.

“That’s what you were thinking, right?” she asks her, seriously. Yura hesitates, then nods, frowning.

“ _Yokai_ are horrible creatures who do horrible things to human beings,” she answers. The mood darkens.

“So are humans towards other humans,” Rikuo counters right back. The kids turn to him, befuddled. Rikuo is serious. “If you’re going to make such an argument… it would be wise to at least acknowledge that humans hurt humans too, more so, I’ve found, than _yokai_ hurt humans.”

The club kids still seem confused. So, Mana takes up the explanation.

“When you come across a non-naturally made situation, who do you think to blame first? A human, of course. Most non-naturally made situations, unless you live in an actual haunted house, were caused either directly or indirectly by a human, whether it was yourself or somebody else. When something happens, nobody’s going to automatically think it was because of a _yokai_ , no. They’re going to check if there’s a logical explanation, then they’re going to ask other humans if they were doing anything that could cause the problem, then they’re going to test for _yokai_ , and then the cycle repeats if no conclusion is made.” Their fellow middle schoolers at least seem to think about it, even the Keikain.

“That is true,” Kana brings to say slowly.

“We were able to draw some logical conclusions for some of the things we were experiencing,” Maki mentions.

“And we do always ask among ourselves and check for logical conclusions first at each place we go to before we begin to actively think it’s the _yokai_ we were told about,” Shima puts in. The others mutter a bit, agreeing. Tsurara seems to almost relax more around the human kids around her.

Yura still seems unsure, so Mana keeps going as Rikuo gets checked up on by Zen and Natsumi returns to her spot.

“Now, I can understand your reluctance. I’ve seen and experienced some pretty horrible _ayakashi_ out there, but really, most of the ones I encountered on my own just wanted to be left alone or wanted an explanation for something that’s occurred. A lot of the bad _yokai_ I’ve encountered happened because of something a human did,” the next part she says in a muttered grumble, “like an idiot human or half-yokai taking off a _yokai_ seal.”

Yura, Rihan, Rikuo, and Zen sweatdrop at this grumble. “I’m going to hazard a guess that many traumatizing things happened to you because of some idiots messing with things they shouldn’t have,” Rihan hazards.

Mana nods rapidly, “Yes. Exactly!” She turns to Yura, “And I’m going to hazard a guess that your reluctance is because of your own trauma with _yokai_?” She blinks then nods hesitantly, not looking anybody in the eyes.

“First of all, that’s not your fault,” Rikuo cuts off any protest with various noises that basically amount to ‘nope’. “Secondly, take the advice of someone who got torn from his true parents before he learned anything of his heritage and has the trauma of someone who has seen horrible things caused by horrible people and creatures: that trauma is always going to be there, but you can either run from it or, learn from it. For example, if doing one thing has lead to a battle and horrible consequences, maybe try and do something else and see where it takes you. You can gain an ally and learn somethings you would not have learned otherwise about this so-called ‘other side’, or, you continue as you are and possibly trigger something like war because your actions caused a horrible reaction.” Keikain seems horrified by the second idea, Tsurara seems to hesitantly relax a little more.

Mana softly says, “No matter the side you are on, whether it is good or neutral or bad, human, yokai, or neither, your actions have consequences. We aren’t saying that what happened to you wasn’t horrible or traumatizing.”

“What we are asking of you,” Rikuo quietly finishes, “is for you to at least consider that maybe, just maybe, there’s a reason why. Can it really hurt to at least try and ask why?”

When it looks like she’s wrestling with her teachings and this new idea, Mana decides to bring up her greatest trauma.

“The greatest _yokai_ opponent I ever faced was a half-yokai who called himself Nanashi. Nameless. He forcibly triggered my powers that I didn’t even know I had, made me think my mother was killed by one of my best yokai friends causing me to respond by killing her, almost starting an entire war between humans and yokai, with the plans of using me and destroying both sides. Do you know why he did it?” Predictably, everybody in the room except for Mana and Rikuo (she told him this during the aftermath through video chat), including the _yokai_ hidden in the walls and ceiling, shakes their heads.

“Kitaro and I, after we managed to get past our anger and grief, found out inside of Nanashi’s mind. His past had been revealed to us, not intentionally, I imagine. We learned his reason. His father, a yokai, and mother, a human, had been in love. She was pregnant with him. His father’s yokai clan and the mother’s people had found out and they were forced to be on the run. Both had been killed by their own family and placed on a mountain for all to see, on pikes. The baby not even giving a chance to live. Left to be forgotten as reminders of why humans and yokai don’t mingle.” Everybody sucks in a breath, horrified. Rihan, especially, seems to be the most affected by this information.

“The child formed itself as a spirit, and used the hatred and rage to gain strength and became Nanashi or Nameless. That half-yokai did all of those things, because of what those humans and yokai had done. Because he had no name, no knowledge of heritage, no warmth and love from his parents. The mother and father died before they could name him. I am the descendent of a woman who was an omyouji or at least someone who had the ability to deal with yokai. He wanted my help, my rage and grief to help him destroy all of humanity and yokais, using the powers from that ancestor.”

“All because he didn’t have a name?” Natsumi and the other humans look shocked.

Mana nods. “My name, it means True Name. My grandmother was the one who suggested it. I think that’s why Nanashi chose me to help him. And I think it’s because I’m a descendent of his mother’s bloodline, from her clan. We were able to defeat Nanashi because I gave him his True Name, the name he should have been born with.”

Mana looks directly at Yura as she finishes the story, “When I did that, the yokai stopped the attack. His true form had smiled at me like a child who had just been given a gift for the first time in their life; he was crying happy tears. The child disappeared into the light and everything, everybody returned to normal. The illusion that my mother was dead disappeared and I learned she had actually survived. It was as if it never happened.” She pauses and closes her lips, letting that sink in.

“My advice? Ask them why. The answer may seem ridiculous in regards to the extent their reaction is going, but I promise you, most of them have an answer that isn’t just ‘because it’s in our nature to’,” Rikuo finishes for her when she paused.  
 _It was still very traumatizing overall but I am glad the answer I gave him was one that resolved things to a peaceful solution,_ Mana thinks privately to herself.

After that the conversation doesn’t get so deep, but Yura did leave sometime after that, citing that she needed some alone time and to think. They had dinner, then the Kiyojuji club left. Tsurara, of course, stayed. When Mana and Rikuo both outright stated that they knew about the yokai in the house and that it was okay, as long as nobody attacked them, they didn’t care if there were yokai out and about. This is after all their home. Tsurara and the other human-disguised yokai dropped their disguises and the ones who couldn’t came out.

When asked what kind of Yokai Rikuo was, he shook his head and shrugged. “There aren’t any yokai in our world that looks like my night time self, so who knows? I was raised by full humans and discovered my yokai side on accident and then learned about my heritage and that I was adopted in a dream.”

They dropped the subject for now but both Rihan and Nurarihyon seemed to be considering something as they observed Rikuo. Mana just played with the little yokai until she tired herself out.

Mana went to rest but Rikuo went to the backyard. He stands and watches the cherry blossom tree, listening to the celebrations and chatter going on further in the house.

“You seem to be a lot more relaxed than someone who found themselves in another world not their own,” someone observes. Rikuo quickly turns to the speaker, getting into a defensive position, knowing full well that nobody else should be out here.

Out of the shadows, a Kitsune (the same one who took him from his home, unknown to Rikuo) steps out, closer to Rikuo, but not near the house.

Unknown to them both, Nura Rihan walks out along the hallway then quickly uses his _yoki_ to hide from sight and observe them. He readies his sword to kill the bastard Kitsune who had taken his child, and quietly steps closer.

“Who are you?” Rikuo asks, stepping back from him. _Yoki_ gathers around his hand. The Kitsune only raises his hands, “Peace, peace, little one. I mean no harm. I am however hear to tell you the heritage I neglected to inform you of before.”

His eyes widen, “You – you’re the one –?” The yokai smiles and nods. Rikuo frowns, steely gaze on him. “What do you want?”

He simply spreads his arms out, “I already said. You are hear to learn of your heritage and then you and your friend will return to the place you currently call home.” Rikuo presses his lips together. The Kitsune’s arms fall back down. “This is all I can offer you as reprieve, kid. Besides, the other option was to lose your father at a young age. I do say so myself, quite the trade.”

He leans closer, smile widening as his eyes stay open. Rikuo raises his arm in defense. “After all, you’re both still alive, no?”

Rikuo grits his teeth and shakes his head, “That doesn’t make up for the years I was separated from them. Especially given that you’re returning us immediately after.”

The Fox messenger straightens up, shrugging, “True enough.” He looks at his fingernails, moving to the side. The picture of disinterest. “Like I said though, this is all I can offer. Your other self had made a deal, all of us paid it, and your current parents got their wish for a child. Win-win situation, all things considered.”

“Win-win?” Rikuo scoffs. “I love my parents, don’t get me wrong. They’re wonderful. It would have been nice to not freak them out with something none of us knew anything about! And having to figure everything out all by myself because my parents had no fuckin’ clue while at the same time traveling the world!”

“Well, your other option was to watch your family fall into a depression after your father’s death, with you only having 4 years of memories to remember him by while they had decades and centuries to go by. I think it was a fair trade off.”

The kid rolls his eyes, “Of course you do. You didn’t have to deal with the consequences such an action made.”

The Kitsune concedes to that point but gets serious, facing the kid fully.

Rihan meanwhile has completely stopped, absolutely confused but slowly starting to understand where this conversation is going. He turns to Rikuo, pieces slowly falling together about this kid.

“Your current options are this, kid:” He raises one finger, “Option 1, learn about your heritage and then go home to Mana’s universe.” He raises a second finger,” Option 2, go home right now with Mana, never learn of your true heritage and continue the rest of your life there.” The yokai stops there.

Rikuo’s frown deepens. “So, there’s no third option? I go home back to my adopted parents either way, and my birth parents only get a few hours? How is that fair or right? I love my adopted parents, that is true. But to learn the truth of my birth parents and they don’t even get the rest of my life to spend with me? ... I don’t want to leave my adopted parents in the dust but I don’t want my birth parents to continue to wonder.”

“We can’t open a portal and leave it open for you,” the Kitsune shakes his head, ending the idea before it can even be formed.

“I don’t like that those are my options. I hate that those are my options. You’re giving me a few hours to learn centuries worth of knowledge, with my best friend who is already stuck in this _yokai_ mess with enough trauma and confusion. That’s the first option. The second option, spares me and my birth parents the truth, but deletes any chance at me learning my heritage and family history and my yokai side, and also leaves Mana with multiple questions and wondering if she’s gone insane from all the _ayakashi_ experiences she’s had.”

The Kitsune simply continues smiling like they aren’t giving Rikuo a major crisis in identity and family. Rikuo thinks more about it.

Rihan is just about done with all of this and is about to intervene, when Rikuo has finally came to a conclusion.

Mana also walks out, with a backpack over her shoulder. She hands Rikuo’s his. “You – How did you –?” He takes it and throws it over his shoulders.

She shrugs in response, “I faked-sleep, then couldn’t take it. Tracked you down, heard the conversation, and quickly grabbed our supplies and ran back over here.”

“Okay, but how did you know my decision?”

“I know you,” she simply answers.

He sighs, knowing that he probably would have figured out her response if he had been in her position. “We’re both pretty predictable when it comes to our loved ones, even those we’ve never meet, aren’t we?” She gives a short laugh.

Rihan disengages his _yoki_. Still pointing a sword at the Kitsune. “So, that’s it? You’re just going to leave without trying to find out?” He too had guessed Rikuo’s answer by Mana’s actions and his expressions.

“Why wouldn’t I avoid giving people unnecessary pain? I’m not that kind of person,” he replies. He turns to face the Kitsune, “Option 2.”

The yokai nods their head and snaps their fingers. Rikuo and Mana turn to Rihan and thank him furiously as they disappear.

The Kitsune opens his mouth, having realized something but they have already completely disappeared back to their world. He shrugs, closing his mouth. Then glances at Rihan then the sword then back to Rihan.

“You can take your sword away now,” he suggests. Rihan focuses back on Kitsune, and narrows his eyes. “No. You’re the son of a gun who took my son away from me, I’m not letting go now that I have you.” The Kitsune rolls his eyes and disappears but not before getting a major slash from the Nidaime. He hisses as he fades away.

“Fine, fine. Nemuri’s real name was Nura Rikuo,” he vanishes completely. Rihan starts cussing furiously, to kingdom come and back.

He now completely understands Rikuo’s – his son! – wish to not know.

Well, at least he can finally answer Wakana’s question of if their baby was okay.


End file.
